


get carried away

by helloearthlings



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, Dysfunctional Family, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Insecurity, Lesbian Character, M/M, Modern Era, Sibling Love, compulsory heterosexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 09:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12981009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloearthlings/pseuds/helloearthlings
Summary: “So…you broke up with Mithian and Leon?” Merlin said slowly, suspiciously. “For each other?”“Nothing like that,” Morgana reassured him. “We know that’s wrong. Instead, we both decided to text them to give them two weeks’ notice.”Merlin blinked five or six times, but Arthur and Morgana shared a smile. Surely, Arthur thought, this wasn’t a position on which Merlin could have the moral high ground. This was easing the pain of all parties involved. This was the right thing to do.“Let me get this straight,” Merlin said, his voice dropping dangerously low. Arthur frowned; surely Merlin couldn’t be disappointed them for this. “You two texted your significant others and told them that you were going to break up with them intwo weeks?”





	get carried away

**Author's Note:**

> Raven insists that this note say "Based on a true story..." because she heard a girl bitching about her boyfriend giving her two weeks' notice before a breakup, which we agreed was a very Pendragon thing to do. Specifically a Pendragon Dealing With Comp Het. We've come to the very easy conclusion that Arthur and Morgana are both the Absolute Nightmare half of the Dynamic and Merlin has to pull double Sweaterboy duty to keep them functioning in the human world.
> 
> Anyway, this is just fun fluff that I wrote when I should've been studying for my finals. Hope you like it, please comment if you do!

“Did you do it?” Morgana said expectantly when Arthur arrived at their usual booth at the Rising Sun. Arthur slid into his seat, a small smile on his face.

“I did it,” he said with an air of confidence in his voice, his pride in himself a little too evident. Morgana graced his admission with a beaming smile as she reached across the table to squeeze his hand, her long black-painted nails tight against his skin. Arthur batted her away.

“Get off, harpy, you need to cut those things,” Arthur complained, but Morgana just stuck her tongue out childishly in his direction.

“Never,” Morgana said. “They intimidate people.”

“Always your goal,” Arthur muttered, noticing that one of the nails left an indent on his thumb. He rubbed it, pouting in her direction.

“So how’d you do it?” Morgana asked, flagging down the waiter to order for herself and Arthur.

Arthur didn’t answer her question at first, instead telling the waiter, “and a gin and tonic, please,” because Merlin would no doubt be here soon and it was always nice to come in and have a drink waiting for you.

Morgana arched an eyebrow when the waiter left, telling him the question was still on the table.

“I texted her,” Arthur said with a bit of a wince. “I know it’s not classy, but it wasn’t a real break-up, anyway. It was easier this way – more efficient. She hasn’t replied yet, but I’m sure Mithian will understand.”

He expected a lecture, but instead Morgana just grinned at him with a rueful shake of her head. “I texted Leon, too. Like you said, it’s a bit more efficient this way, and then we don’t have to worry about reaction. I think more people should break up this way, it gives people time to really ruminate and think about these things, and then makes the whole thing so much more painless.”

“And less dramatic,” Arthur pointed out, thanking the waiter when he stopped back at the table with their drinks. Arthur got a napkin to put under Merlin’s waiting drink so the condensation wouldn’t fall on the table before taking a sip of his own. “God, breakups can be painful. But you’re right, I think this will really work. An excellent idea on your part, and I’m not one to say that lightly.”

Morgana beamed at him, and held her hand up to high-five him. Since there was no danger of her nails attacking him through a slap, Arthur reciprocated the gesture with a laugh.

“Oh, no,” Merlin’s familiar voice floated through the bar, and by the time he arrived at their booth, he had a wary expression on his face, his eyes shifting from Arthur to Morgana to suspiciously. “What did you two do now? Please tell me it doesn’t involve lighting something on fire.”

“Who do you take us for?” Morgana said with a perfectly innocent expression. in the meantime, Arthur pulled Merlin towards him into a seated position so he could throw an arm around his shoulder.

“Only at our father’s office,” Arthur said cheerfully as Merlin gave him a tetchy but affectionate look. “No need to go put that one out.”

“Metaphorical fires, then,” Merlin said, reaching for his gin and Arthur couldn’t help but feel a little warm inside. “There must be a metaphorical fire somewhere, or you two would never lower yourselves to high-fiving. You’re too posh and antagonistic for that. So you must’ve done something bad and this is your celebration.”

He eyed them both, eyebrows narrowing, and Arthur couldn’t help but think that Merlin knew them so well it was eerie.

There was silence only broken by Morgana casually humming to herself, stirring her vodka with her finger and lifting it up to suck on tauntingly in Merlin’s direction.

“It wasn’t a _bad_ thing,” Arthur finally relented, and Morgana glared at him while Merlin blinked, ever suspicious, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. His bangs were getting long again; he needed them cut. Not too short, but so that his eyes were always visible. “We just…made a pact.”

“That sounds bad,” Merlin said with an over-exaggerated wince. “Pact calls to mind _suicide pact_ which calls to mind _blood pact_ which calls to mind _blood feud,_ which I know the two of you had.”

“Blood feud’s like in Romeo and Juliet, with two different families,” Arthur corrected, or at least he thought he corrected, he didn’t actually know if he was right or not. He just wanted Merlin to be wrong. “We have the same blood, we can’t be in a blood feud.”

“I think we can be in a blood feud,” Morgana inserted with a wink in Arthur’s direction. “It implies that blood is involved, not whose blood it is, and since we share blood and are always feuding –”

“Stop trying to distract me,” Merlin pointed at Morgana with narrowed eyes. She just grabbed his finger and prodded at it with her nail for a while, showing that she wasn’t intimidated by him. Their playful jibe made Arthur feel a little ill, though he wasn’t sure why. “What was the pact? Did you kill someone for each other? I bet that’s it. Arthur killed your boss and Morgana killed one of your ex-girlfriends whose suing you for defamation.”

“Sophia tried to kill me –!” Arthur started, but Morgana cut him off with a hush.

“Fine,” Morgana rolled her eyes. “It’s not even a bad thing. It’s a good thing, actually. Arthur and I eased the pain of our mutual breakups with our significant others.”

Merlin blinked at them a couple times, probably trying to figure out what the catch was. There wasn’t one. At least, Arthur thought there wasn’t one.

“So…you broke up with Mithian and Leon?” Merlin said slowly, suspiciously. “ _For_ each other?”

“Nothing like that,” Morgana reassured him. “We know that’s wrong. Instead, we both decided to text them to give them two weeks’ notice.”

Merlin blinked five or six times, but Arthur and Morgana shared a smile. Surely, Arthur thought, this wasn’t a position on which Merlin could have the moral high ground. This was easing the pain of all parties involved. This was the right thing to do.

“Let me get this straight,” Merlin said, his voice dropping dangerously low. Arthur frowned; surely Merlin couldn’t be disappointed them for this. “You two _texted_ your _significant others_ and told them that you were going to break up with them in _two weeks_?”

Merlin’s stare was nearly thunderous. Morgana made a surprised noise as Arthur quickly said “Break ups can be terrible, Merlin. Especially when they’re sprung on you. Sophia tried to kill me when I broke up with her!”

“We just wanted to make it easier on them,” Morgana said, her voice more empathetic than her usual harpy-like tones. “I liked Leon – and Arthur liked Mithian – but we just weren’t feeling it with them. You know, that spark. And it’s so hard to tell that to someone you care about…”

“We had to do it,” Arthur interrupted, but Morgana quickly nodded in assent at Arthur’s words. “For their sake. You’re always telling us we need to be more aware of people’s feelings, Merlin. We thought you’d be happy for us. And how much we’ve grown as people.”

Merlin stared at them for maybe twenty seconds before he busted out laughing, laughed so hard tears started to form in the corner of his eyes.

“You two,” Merlin took a very ,very long swig from his drink, “are so goddamn lucky that I’ve known you since we were ten and know that you’re absolutely genuine when you think that that was the right thing to do. God! What kind of human being thinks that in their head and is like _this is okay to do_?”

“Are you implying that we’re not human?” Morgana said, and though her voice sounded offended, Arthur knew perfectly well that she wasn’t. He wasn’t offended. Merlin knew these things better than they did; they usually turned to him for advice in the realm of emotions, but had really thought that this tactic was the way to go this time around.

“You’re Pendragons, they’re very different species,” Merlin chuckled, taking another swig.

“What’s wrong with it?” Arthur asked, genuinely wanting to know. He didn’t want to hurt Mithian. She was witty and fun and went hunting with him more than once, which was something he couldn’t stay about most of the girls he dated. He didn’t want to hurt her. “I thought it would be easier on her.”

“It’s so cold!” Merlin gesticulated, drink in hand, waving it about the bar. It was almost empty; he’d need another one soon. “It’s like they’re your employee and not your partner. It’s empty and – and passionless. Which makes absolutely _no sense_ since the two of you are the most passionate people I know except for when it comes to romance. Then you clam up and professionalize to the extreme.”

“I didn’t want to be cold,” Morgana said emphatically, eyebrows creasing. “I just wanted Leon to be prepared.”

“Relationships aren’t about being prepared, they’re about being swept off your feet, whether that’s into someone’s arms or down the sewer when they rip your heart out,” Merlin said with laughing smile. Arthur frowned; he didn’t like the idea of hearts being ripped out, but especially Merlin’s heart being ripped out. “Breakups should be shattering. That’s what they _do_.”

“I’m sorry, Merlin,” Arthur took a deep swig from his own drink, shame boiling in his chest that he saw reflected in Morgana’s grimace. “We really thought –”

“You’re heartbreakingly genuine,” Merlin said as he put an arm around Arthur’s shoulder and squeezed, and then the usual Merlin was there, snarky and critical but still very much the best friend Arthur could ever ask for. “If only you could translate your desire to make your emotions emote properly into….actually emoting properly. How’d they take it, by the way?”

“No reply yet,” Arthur said, a little morose, thinking now that maybe Mithian was furious with him. Arthur hated the idea of people not liking him; he needed to be liked. It was what he thrived on.

“None from Leon either,” Morgana said in a small voice, playing with the rim of her cup in order to not make eye contact with either of them.

Merlin sighed, but there was a loving edge to it that Arthur appreciated in his time of suffering. “I’ll get the next round. I feel like we’re going to need it tonight.”

Merlin squeezed Arthur’s shoulder as he headed toward the bar. Arthur frowned in Morgana’s direction.

“I really thought it was for the best,” Morgana said in a small voice, one she usually reserved for talking to baby kittens, of which she had none. “I – I should call Leon and apologize, and really break up with him, huh?”

“Me too,” Arthur said, hating the feeling in his gut, both the idea of hurting Mithian and disappointing Merlin. Merlin was such a good friend, and basically the only reason that Arthur and Morgana could interact with the world outside of their own family. Uther had never done either of them any favors when it came to teaching them how to exist in the world as something less than a higher being. Uther had always consider himself a God among men, and Merlin had spent approximately fifteen years doing the long, tedious work of convincing Arthur and Morgana that that didn’t mean they were demigods.

“He’s right, you know,” Morgana said with a wry shake of her head. “About the passion. I care so much – all the time – about everything – except for the guys I date. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a guy I’ve dated. I’ve liked hanging out with him, spending time with them, but I’ve never had my heart ripped out. Feels like I’m missing something.”

“Yeah,” Arthur agreed quietly, not liking to articulate how much he could empathize with that. “Guess we just need to meet the right person, you know? The person that changes anything. You’ll meet the right guy someday, Morgana.”

“What if I don’t?” Morgana said with a bit of a hapless shrug. “I mean, sure, life goes on. Men are hardly the most important thing in my life. They barely make the top ten. But sometimes I think – that I’m wrong. That there’s something wrong with me for thinking that way.”

“Morgana…” Arthur started, not sure of how to comfort his sister. She didn’t get emotional like this, giving her insecurities a voice and a name.

“No one’s ever going to _get_ me, you know?” Morgana said a little tiredly. “No one ever has except you and – and _Merlin_ …”

There was a sudden bright gleam in Morgana’s eye as her face lit up. “What if I dated _Merlin_?”

“What?” Arthur asked, his brain short-circuiting as he gaped at Morgana. “You – no – you can’t. You can’t date Merlin.”

“Why not?” Morgana said a little breathlessly. “He already knows me – already understands me, my life, my weird quirks. He’s everything I’m not, but maybe – I don’t know, maybe he would complete me? Maybe all of our pieces would fit together?”

“Of course they wouldn’t,” Arthur snapped, and Morgana’s face fell. “He’s – he’s _Merlin_ , Morgana. You can’t date him. What if you broke up with him, like you do with every other guy in the world? You’d rip his heart out. You can’t do that to Merlin. He’s – he’s _perfect_. You can’t take advantage like that.”

“You’re right,” Morgana said slowly, her gaze going to Merlin who was still paying for drinks up at the bar, his fingers flipping through his wallet. “He – he is perfect. Would be perfect. Perfect in every way.”

“So you can’t have him,” Arthur interrupted, anxiety threatening to spill from his throat for reasons he couldn’t name. “You can’t – we don’t deserve perfect, Morgana. We don’t deserve him as it is, you can’t take advantage like that –”

“ _We_ ,” Morgana said slowly after staring at Arthur for a moment, her eyes piercing his as if seeing straight through him in a way that made Arthur start to sweat. “Arthur – do you want to date Merlin?”

“Shut up,” Arthur responded immediately, though there was less of a punch to it than he would like. “Merlin and I – we’re not –that’s ridiculous. You’re ridiculous. Go ahead. Date Merlin. See if I care.”

“Wait,” Morgana whispered, her voice suddenly a bit strangled. “Merlin – Merlin would be the most perfect boyfriend in the world. But I don’t _want_ the most perfect boyfriend in the world. Because a perfect boyfriend…is still…a _boy_ friend.”

“What –?”

“I’m a lesbian,” Morgana’s eyes grew impossibly wide, cutting Arthur off before he could finish. “That’s why none of my relationships have ever worked – that’s why even Merlin, the most perfect guy in the world, would never be enough. Because I don’t want to be with boys.”

“You want to be with girls?” Arthur finished for her, heart thumping a little too loudly in his chest.

“Yes!” Morgana said with sharp laugh, jumping out of her seat, looking happier and younger than Arthur could remember her being recently. There was joy in her features as she laughed, laughed, and laughed some more. “I’m gay – and _you’re_ gay – that’s why we’re both so shit at romance, we were romancing the wrong people!”

“Morgana,” Arthur said weakly, his extremities suddenly going numb, “I – I can’t be –”

“Arthur,” Morgana took Arthur’s hand in hers and squeezed, her nails barely registering as painful now. “Of course you can be.”

“He can be what? Annoying?” Merlin appeared at Morgana’s shoulder and Arthur’s stomach started to churn and the collar at his throat became very itchy.

“Merlin!” Morgana turned around and practically threw herself into Merlin’s arms, which Arthur thought was very unnecessary for someone who just had a Lesbian Revelation. Arthur quickly stood in order to take their drinks out of Merlin’s hands so that Morgana didn’t knock them to the ground.

“What’s going on?” Merlin said with chuckle. “You guys make another pact? Is this the murder one?”

“I’m gay!” Morgana said excitedly, and Merlin raised an eyebrow, but his smile was bright and genuine. “That’s why I’m awful at romance – I should’ve been dating girls all along!”

“That’s great, Morgana,” Merlin grinned, pulling her close and shooting Arthur a happy and surprised look over her shoulder.

“It’s all thanks to you,” Morgana said as she pulled away. “I never would’ve come to that conclusion so quickly if Arthur hadn’t –”

Arthur came to his senses soon enough to clear his throat loudly, and thankfully Morgana didn’t intrude on his privacy enough to finish her thought.

Instead, she cleared her throat, pulling away from Merlin with a little laugh as she said “Damn, I’m gonna have to cut my nails. Can’t be a lesbian looking like this.”

“Thank God,” Arthur said a little weakly. “Though you already look like you castrate men for a living, so…”

“I do have that going for me,” Morgana beamed in Arthur’s direction. “I think – I’m gonna go to a club. A lesbian club. To meet girls, just to – just to make sure. Make sure that I’m not making this up. I can’t be –it all makes so much sense. Merlin, do you know any good lesbian clubs?”

“No, because I’m not a lesbian,” Merlin remarked dryly. “Here, I’ll text you my friend Elena’s number. She is a lesbian, so she’ll know what’s up in your club scene. However that works.”

“Thanks!” Morgana grinned. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow – God, I’m so excited. I haven’t felt like this in years. Maybe ever. Not when it comes to dating. Bye!”

Morgana waved at them as she rushed from the bar, leaving Merlin and Arthur in stilted silence for a moment before Merlin said “So. Are we gonna split her drink then?”

“Sure,” Arthur said, glad of the change of topic. It couldn’t last for long, however, as after only a sip, Merlin spoke again.

“Great for Morgana,” he said neutrally, though a little bemused, probably because he had next to no context for what had happened. “But what did she mean? That it was all thanks to me?”

“Because for about half a second, she thought about dating you, and the thought turned her gay,” Arthur said bluntly. When Merlin snorted, he added “It’s what everyone thinks of when they think of you.”

“Well, I hope I’m turning a lot of guys gay, then,” Merlin laughed, and Arthur’s face heated up. “Seriously though, what happened?”

“That happened,” Arthur muttered. “Though it was more about you being the perfect man and her still not wanting you.”

“Perfect, huh?” Merlin said with a little huff, turning pink at the ears.

Arthur couldn’t think of a response to that, so his mouth betrayed his brain and said “She thinks I’m gay, too.”

Merlin didn’t miss a beat. “Are you?”

“I dunno,” Arthur stared down at his drink, drilling a hole into it with his mind. “What does being gay feel like?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Merlin said and Arthur rolled his eyes.

“Alright, what does being bi feel like, then?”

“Like being straight but better,” Merlin said without hesitation and Arthur was so surprised that he laughed in spite of himself. “Seriously. I like girls, I’m attracted to them, but I like dating guys so much better. I feel more comfortable. More at ease. More…”

“Passionate?” Arthur’s voice came out hoarser than he would’ve liked.

“Something like that,” Merlin put an arm around Arthur’s shoulder and squeezed. Arthur couldn’t look at him, though, not right now. If he did, he would probably say something he couldn’t take back.

“Hey, tonight was a big night for the Pendragons,” Merlin giggled, swaying into Arthur’s shoulder. “It started out with your usual harebrained shenanigans and lack of understanding of how humanity works and ended with some earth-shattering revelations. Maybe it was just straight society you were having a problem with, and now that you don’t have to pretend anymore, you’ll start acting like real people. Not that I expect it, but I’d like to hope.”

“You wouldn’t have to keep us in check all the time,” Arthur smiled wryly to himself before a thought occurred to him. “…Would you still hang out with us if you didn’t feel like it was your service to humanity to take care of us?”

Merlin had made joking comments like that before, but Arthur had known Merlin didn’t mean it, that Merlin would never stop being there for him, but tonight was weird and fucked and both terrible and exhilarating and he couldn’t possibly handle Merlin deciding Arthur was good enough without him.

“I haven’t fulfilled my service to humanity yet,” Merlin said, though his voice was affectionate. “I love that you’re a bit of a disaster, Arthur, but even if you stop being disastrous, that doesn’t change anything. But I don’t think you’ll ever stop being disastrous.”

“That’s a good thing?” Arthur snorted quietly, but Merlin squeezed his arm again before saying “It’s a great thing.”

In that moment, Arthur made the mistake of looking into Merlin’s eyes, teasing while still gentle in a way that was overwhelming, and Arthur lost all sense and said “Morgana thinks that I love you. That that’s why I don’t work with other people. That I want to be with you instead.”

Merlin grinned at him, gentle and overwhelming, eyes going soft around the edges. “Arthur –”

“But she’s right, you’re perfect, and I don’t deserve –” Arthur started, meaning to give an impassioned speech about how Merlin deserved the world, but he was cut off with Merlin brushing his lips against Arthur’s just for a second.

“Okay?” Merlin said as he pulled away, eyes bright and his hands almost shaking. Arthur felt a little floored; he never thought he could make Merlin nervous like that. He never thought Merlin would ever kiss him at all. “You’re my best friend, Arthur. I’ve thought about this too many times to count, but I always brushed it off because you were my best friend and I couldn’t risk saying anything. Losing you. But – but if you really do –”

“Of course I really do,” Arthur threw caution away and leaned in, ignoring the anxieties in his head to instead press his lips against Merlin’s, brief but passionate in a way Arthur had never felt before. He didn’t just feel it in his lips, but in his stomach, his toes, his temples.

“Big night for the Pendragons,” Merlin said as Arthur pulled away. “We can only hope that Morgana is hooking up with the love of her life at some lesbian club right now to really make this come full circle.”

Arthur’s pulse beat faster at the phrase _love her life_ , wondering about how it was equated here, and yet intrinsically knowing already. He couldn’t say that, though, and quickly deflected with “She can’t have hooked up with a girl yet. She needs to cut her nails first.”

They both giggled, which turned into laughter, which turned into something even greater as they laughed at everything that had happened all night. Merlin leaned in to kiss Arthur again and Arthur kissed back and there was the kind of passion in that simple touch that Arthur had always been missing.


End file.
